Joshua Chapter 6
After 40 long years in the Wilderness, the Israelites have crossed over the Jordan River and it was time to begin their conquest of Canaan. From the very start of this chapter, the Lord makes it very clear that the battle is His and the Israelites will be victorious (v2 – “I have given Jericho into your hand”).
Since this is the Lord’s battle, faithfulness towards God and obedience of His commands are crucial for the people to be victorious.
However, in this case, the commands of God seem a little… strange. It’s easy to obey when His instructions make sense to us or align with our own personal interests. But being soldiers of the Lord and fighting His battle means complete obedience to Him, even when His commands for us don’t seem to make sense at the moment!
March around Jericho once for six days? March around the city seven times on the seventh day? Then blow the trumpets and shout with a great shout? How is that supposed to help us defeat Jericho? Are we not making ourselves a laughing stock? Are we not making ourselves easy targets for them to defeat?
But regardless of whether or not one understands His instructions or commands, why should one choose to always be faithful to God? Because God Himself is faithful!
In this chapter, we can see 3 instances of God’s faithfulness.
Firstly, God says in verse 2 that He had already given Jericho into their hands, which was fulfilled later in the chapter.
Secondly, God was faithful to Rahab as well, as Rahab and her household lived even though they stayed in the city wall (2:15) and the city walls fell down flat (20).
Finally, we see how Joshua laid a curse in verse 26, saying that whoever rebuilds Jericho would “lay its foundation with his firstborn and with his youngest he shall set up its gates”. We see this fulfilled in 1 Kings 16:34 when Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho.
Be it blessings or curses, His salvation grace or His judgement, we can see that God is faithful to His words.
We know from this chapter that the Israelites choose to have faith in God, though they did not fully understand. And Hebrews 11:30 tell us that by their faith, the walls of Jericho fell down! Their faith was accompanied by action as they obeyed God. And God was truly faithful to His words, delivering Jericho into their hands.
Bible stories like this (which we have been well-acquainted with since young) might feel a little detached from us today, as our life of faith today doesn’t involve us conquering cities or marching around city walls. But nevertheless, such stories are recorded in the Bible as examples for us to learn from!
As we read this chapter today, let us reflect on our faithfulness and obedience towards God. Are we willing to completely obey everything that the Bible tells us to do, even if it doesn’t fully make sense to us? (e.g. Do I truly set aside the Sabbath as a day for God? Am I willing to suffer loss and love my enemies? Do I boldly preach the Gospel?)
The Bible promises us that if we are faithful to God, we will be victorious. No matter what battles we are fighting in our lives today, may we find the strength to remain faithful to God and continue to completely obey Him, that we may one day see the terrifying walls in our lives crumble down, as God gives us victory over our hurt, our struggles, and our sins.